Researchers conducted two storm-scale experiments using model jumping off points from either a fixed physics (same sets of physics schemes) or a multiple physics (different combinations of physics schemes) mesoscale ensemble system to see which method better predicts a tornadic supercell storm. Their results show that the ensemble with jumping off points from the multiple physics ensemble forecast provides more realistic forecasts of the significant tornado parameter, dry line structure, and near surface variables.

Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region (CINAR) researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) collaborated with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) to integrate continuous automated microscopic analysis of plankton with a recent Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) program cruise aboard the R/V Okeanos Explorer. The successful deployment produced millions of high resolution plankton images that are providing taxon-specific information about spatial distribution patterns in waters of southern New England and the Gulf of Maine.

The journal, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, just published results of a recent experiment examining two stratosphere-to-troposphere (STT) events observed over California. NOAA/NESDIS researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), University of Wisconsin-Madison, are collaborating with NASA scientists, university researchers and air quality and public health scientists to analyze airborne and in situ measurements of ozone and other trace gases that accompany STT events. STT events are of concern because the ozone may increase to dangerous levels, triggering public health warnings.

Scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies (CIMRS) are investigating sounds generated by icebergs in the Southern Ocean and their potential to affect marine animals and ecosystems.While the steady increase in global shipping traffic has been identified as a primary cause of rising ocean noise level, the disintegration of large icebergs was found to be another significant noise source that influences the soundscape of the southern hemisphere.

A new study, led by Cooperative Institute for Climate Science – Princeton (CICS-P) Scientist Meiyun Lin, discovers that climate shifts have caused Asian ozone pollution reaching Hawaii to rise unexpectedly in autumn since the mid-1990s. The findings, published in NatureGeoscience, indicate that variability in airflow patterns must be considered when attributing observed ozone changes to human-induced trends in precursor emissions.